“Cancel culture.” We’ve seen it crop up all over the place throughout the past few years, especially throughout social media and other internet-based platforms. As a part of Gen Z, I’ve seen how this culture came out of seemingly nowhere and I feel my generation is mostly responsible for its rise and cultivation. Through things like the Me2 movement and the BLM protests that followed the death of George Floyd, we’ve watched a lot of ugly things got brought into the light where it can be scrutinized and we can hold people accountable for heinous actions and hateful attitudes that they tried so hard to keep hidden from the world. Exposing corruption isn’t bad, even as a christian, the Bible calls people to expose those things and bring evil into the light where it can be judged properly. So. We’re all good then? Well, like most social justice movements, there’s a bit of a sloppy vigilante attitude that seems to accompany the deliverance of this judgement.
JUSTICE TURNED SELF-RIGHTEOUS
I want to make some things very clear from the get-go. I do not support, defend, or endorse any hurtful acts of any kind whatsoever, and I fully believe that crimes need to be punished, and lessons need to be learned. Whether that’s through self-reflection or getting taught, so be it. Now. Allow me to give an example to reflect the point of this paragraph’s heading. When we make it our responsibility to try and rely on the flawed and skewed information constantly spewed onto the internet to learn truth and to dictate people’s characters, we’ve put ourselves into a stressful and unreliable position. Imagine this. All your friends, all of your family. They love you and praise you, enjoy time spent with you and encourage you in all you do. But here’s the thing. They keep a permanent record of all you do, a memory of all your rights and wrongs. One day, they dig up something on this record of your’s. Maybe you told a lie? Weren’t the best partner in a relationship? Perhaps you went behind a loved ones back? One day, they come to you with this mistake of your’s. They don’t have details or context for the situation, just the at-face account of you and the other person. Maybe they don’t even have the account of the other one involved. Doesn’t matter though, cause you can defend yourself, right? Well, here’s the thing. They won’t take your account seriously, and any defense you have won’t be trusted. You’re labeled as guilty, and they leave. Just like that, they’re all gone and they all believe you to be scum. I feel like we’ve witnessed cancel culture play out in a similar fashion multiple times. Innocent until proven guilty is hardly a thing anymore it seems, and people are lightning fast to condemn, destroy reputation and ensure that this person cannot ever receive another good thing.
As if we’re better.
Everyone has a past, and when a mistake is committed, consequences follow. A crime, punishment is given. For those who live life without remorse, don’t turn around, or haven’t faced their due justice, they will receive a unique, and most likely harsher judgement. But when we seek and dig through the pasts of any public figure or person we come across and demonize them over a single past mistake, I feel like we’re really just kidding ourselves. EVERYBODY FUCKS UP. PERIOD. You, reader, have made mistakes. I, writer, have made mistakes. So why do we believe we can play judge, jury, and executioner? Who are we to take it upon ourselves to destroy reputations when we possess little to no knowledge about circumstances or people? I’m just saying. Cancel culture breeds this toxic witch hunt mentality where we need to dismantle real lives of real people because they goofed up in life, like literally every human being on the planet. I’m just tired of watching people try to dig up dirt and condemn people. Like, leave them alone! You’ve got dirt too and you probably try to hide it! Let’s not rush headfirst into hypocrisy, but instead choose to acknowledge a few things:
I do not have all the details, as a far removed person who can only go off of debatably reliable sources on the internet
Accusation does not equal immediate condemning
We are all flawed, and we all make mistakes.
Now. All of that said. I do not want anybody thinking I’m in defense of every public figure that’s ever been “cancelled” because I’m not. When people show no remorse or responsibility for mistakes they’ve committed, then they don’t deserve to have platforms and certain careers. They’ve proven through their actions and mentalities that they cannot be responsible or respectfully steward what they’ve been given. So they’ve lost that gift and privilege. But, if somebody is honest and admits what they’ve done wrong, and has PROVEN they can change and have changed, then we should celebrate that, not immediately rush to doubt and discouragement. When we choose to hate and “cancel” a person for a mistake, then we shame them and isolate them in that mistake. We define them by that mistake and strip them of opportunity to improve and become a better person. Why do we permanently label others by mistakes they’ve made and treat them like they can’t get better when we all live fearful of that ever happening to us? My friends, that is prime hypocrisy and I encourage you not to ever tolerate it. We all fuck up. We all can change for the better. We should encourage that positive change, not condemn and destroy. So. To try and recap.
Everybody deserves another chance. Everybody deserves consequence. Those who change, celebrate. Those who don’t, they lose.
I do not support cancel culture and hypocrisy, but I do support accountability, repentance, redemption, forgiveness, discipline, and punishment.
I hope this post communicates what I want it to. I personally will never cancel another human being because I believe we all are equally capable of good and evil. We are all equally welcomed into redemption and forgiveness and anybody can change. It’s a matter of choice, and if you choose change, God bless you. I support that. If you don’t, I hope you are turned to light through consequence and conviction. At the end of the day, let’s all please just be nice to each other. It truly is not that difficult at the end of the day. God bless all you beautiful people.